Ecudor and oil

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ECUADOR: EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT

 

OCP PIPELINE PROTESTERS IN AMAZON ATTACKED BY MILITARY!

STOP THE BLOODSHED NOW!

 

February 28, 2002

 

FOR BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE OCP PIPELINE VISIT:

www.amazonwatch.org

http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/citigroup/cs_ocp.html

 

news article (in spanish below)

 

Protests against Ecuador's new OCP pipeline turned fatal yesterday as

thousands of striking OCP construction workers and local residents in the

northern Ecuadorian Amazon were attacked by the country's armed forces.

Local newspapers report that three children have died by asphyxiation from

tear gas and dozens are wounded. The two Amazonian provinces, Sucumbios and

Orellana, have been paralyzed since February 22 when a general strike was

called by workers, residents, and local government leaders demanding much

needed funds for roads, hospitals, and clean running water. Demonstrators

erected roadblocks and have been occupying over 60 oil wells and 5

refineries-halting all construction on the pipeline and bringing oil

production to a near standstill. President Gustavo Noboa, who has long

warned that he will " bring war " to anyone in the way of the pipeline and

fight them " trench by trench, " declared a state of emergency for both

provinces-- suspending basic civil rights and giving maximum power to the

military to break up the demonstrations. Under the decree, the state has

prohibited public meetings, restricted the movement of key civic leaders,

and shut down a local radio station for broadcasting messages that were

deemed " against the state of emergency. "

 

Once pristine rainforest, Sucumbios and Orellana are now the largest oil

producing provinces in the country, yet have been eclipsed by the alleged

benefits of the industry and remain the country's most impoverished. For

over thirty years, state and foreign oil companies like Texaco and

Occidental Petroleum have pumped the region for billions of barrels of oil,

while indigenous communities, local farmers, and townspeople have watched it

descend into environmental, social, and economic ruin. Communities

surrounding oil operations have the highest rates of cancer in the country

due to three decades of chronic contamination of their rivers, ground water,

soil, and air; while larger towns still lack basic health services and

infrastructure such as sanitation and potable water. The provinces also

have some of the highest rates of malnutrition, prostitution, violent crime,

and inflation in the nation.

 

The strikes are the latest in a series of ongoing protests which have

paralyzed construction along sections of the pipeline route and threaten the

OCP Consortium's $900 million syndicated loan from German Bank WestLB. The

government's violent reaction also sets a dangerous precedent for what could

be in store for the Mindo tree sitters, who continue to put their lives on

the line by blocking the pipeline's passage high in the trees of the Mindo

Nambillo Cloudforest Reserve. With most of the oil to be transported in the

OCP destined for West Coast markets-for our consumption-- we must act

immediately to stop the bloodshed! Write Noboa today and let him know the

eyes of the international community are upon him and that we will not stand

for these or future outrageous and repressive acts of the military!

 

Sr Gustavo Noboa

Sr. Presidente de la Republica del Ecuador

Fax 593 22 580735

despresi & despresi (AT) ec_gov (DOT) net

 

 

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News article

 

Fuente: www.elcomercio.com.ec

Miércoles, 27 de Febrero del 2002

 

Amazonia: denuncian muerte de dos niños en protestas

 

Quito. Dos niños murieron anoche asfixiados con gases lacrimógenos

durante las protestas que se llevaron a cabo en las provincias

amazónicas de Orellana y Sucumbíos (norte de Ecuador) para pedir mayor

atención por parte del Estado.

El canal de televisión " Telecentro " afirmó, citando fuentes militares,

que " la intervención anoche en el Coca por parte de las fuerzas

militares habría dejado a dos menores fallecidos por asfixia " .

La muerte de los niños ha empeorado la situación en las dos provincias,

donde sus habitantes protestan desde el pasado viernes para exigir al

Gobierno, entre otras cosas, la realización de obras viales y de

electrificación.

El presidente de Ecuador, Gustavo Noboa, declaró la semana pasada el

estado de emergencia en la provincia de Sucumbíos para enfrentarse a las

protestas, que se anunciaron como indefinidas y progresivas.

Los manifestantes tienen cortadas las carreteras e impiden tanto la

salida como la entrada de vehículos, lo que está empezando a provocar el

desabastecimiento en los mercados.

El Gobierno aún espera la respuesta de los manifestantes a su propuesta,

realizada ante la prensa, de mantener diálogos en la capital ecuatoriana

para tratar de solucionar la situación. EFE